A full scale WIP 1969 Chevrolet Z/28 Camaro

First a bit of history. My Dad purchased the car on August 21st, 1981 when he was 26 years old. 26 years later when I was 26 years old he gave me the car on the same day August 21st, 2007. 10 Years later August 21st, 2017 he passed away. Some of you may have seen the 1/12 scale car I built last year in his memory. Well now it's time to "spruce up" the real one. All the work is being done by hubby, my cousin and myself in my cousins garage. We are basically going through the car and fixing anything that needs fixed(So far, gas leak, oil, body bushings, radio/speakers, suspension bushings.)upgrading the front brakes, tending to any rust issues, replacing the weather stripping, cleaning and painting the engine bay, interior, trunk, and painting the whole car.

When Dad gave her to me almost 11 years ago.

A few recent pics before the strip down process began.

Were we left off last weekend.

The car is about a 45 minute drive from home, and since my cousin works during the week I've been going out on the weekends. So I should update this weekly.

Thanks Gamera! Yes he did. He had a variety of older cars, and the Camaro always stayed, she was his favorite. I do plan on leaving some things unfixed, I'm not trying to erase my Dad from the car. I re-wrapped the wiring harness in the back of the car already, and left the trailer wiring he added many moons ago. There is also a crack in the door panel where his elbow used to sit while he was driving, that I'm not going to fix.

Thanks ModelCrazy!

Fox, Thanks! Fingers crossed. I know she won't be perfect, but I'm sure we'll do a pretty good job.

Mmmmm a true 69 Z/28 - wow. She's a beauty and what a collector piece. A friend of mine restored a 64 Corvette and put a Gopro up in the corner of the garage on a slow timelapse - makes for a great video and keepsake.

Brings back memories. My first car was a '68 Z-28. It took me three years to save up the money (around $3600 if I recall right). Sadly it was hit in an apartment parking lot in '71 and is long gone. That car was also my first encounter with an 8 track tape deck. Not long after I installed it someone smashed the drivers window and stole it. I now realize that the joke was on the thief but I didn't feel that way at the time.

Best of luck with your project and please keep posting pictures. I love the color of yours.

Hey Keyda ! I have a friend who has a Yellow one . He got the repaint , Stripes included , ( In paint not vinyl ) and made it a daily driver . Except he got to protective of the old girl . She is 100% original inside !

GMorrison, she will be a driver, always has been. Only gets put away for winter time. My Dad even towed stuff with the car, lol. As for the rear view mirror, he always had a pair of fuzzy red dice hanging there. I have a brand new pair, along with a small glass ampule that I'm going to put a bit of his ashes in that I will hang from the mirror.

keavdog, She is a true Z/28, but no where near original. I was never concerned with that, it might fetch you a higher price tag, but this car will be kept in the family. I like the idea with the Gopro, I may have to give that a try one of these days.

tempestjohnny, I rebuilt the heads from the engine in my basement one winter, lol.

jeffpez, it always sucks when someone thinks they have the right to just take your stuff. I've had a few of my vehicles broken into over the years, it's a horrible feeling.

Tanker-Builder, We'll be painting on the stripes as well. The interior in my car was also changed at some point. It originally had the yellow houndstooth interior. Glad it's not there anymore, I'm not a big fan of yellow, lol. I totally understand being too protective, I'm sure I'll be the same way once all the work is done! I'm already to the point where I won't let anyone else drive her!

That is awesome, historical! I used to be able to restore cars as well. Lol! My first car I bought in 1985 was for $500.00. It was in poor condition, it can drive, yes It actually was very fun car. A 1989 Ford Mustang. Someone took out the 427 and replaced it with a 3.50 (basically a 289).

Good luck to you and your family in the restoration!

On The Bench: Revell 1/48 B-25 Mitchell

Married to the most caring, loving, understanding, and beautiful wife in the world. Mrs. Toshi

This sounds like a neat project. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress. I've actually been working on my old car a bit and have been amazed at how some of the stuff I've learned from these boards has been applicable to the car (especially stuff like refurbishing the hood & trunk emblems, etc)

That is so cool that you are working on your dad's car. You are not erasing your dad from it but rather honoring him by sprucing up the old gal and making it a safer ride.

I hope you guys are taking lots of pictures, bagging and tagging where parts go back to. Makes the assembly process a lot easier. My buddy bought a 67 Goat hardtop and used this method to keep things easier for his rebuild.

I wish I still had my 55 Chevy hardtop. I had her for 15 years and worked her to almost a frame off. Sadly I sold her off after I retired back in 2007.

WillysMB, I have to agree with you there, I've met some pretty nice people at car shows, and everyone here is great!

plasticjunkie, I have some old plastic containers, and I'll be getting ziploc bags! We've put most bolts back where they came from, and if we couldn't, put it in a container. I did the heater core on my Blazer last year, and the whole dash needs to come out of the truck. I made sure everything was bagged and labeled, it went back together very nicely with no left over or missing bolts!

Small little update. My cousin and his fiance have welcomed their baby boy into the world, but she's been having some complications afterwards. They came home yesterday so I went out to visit, and pull some more stuff off my car that I can work on cleaning up/polishing/re-painting at home.

The pile of parts.

Both bumpers, tail lights, side marker lights, all the emblems, grill, headlight bezels, shifter, fender braces and the air cleaner.

Hoping to get back out this weekend and get the engine out of the car, and find the oil leak. Need to drop the gas tank as well, I have a leak at the top somewhere.

Badges look great! I did the same thing you are doing to a Schwinn bike badge. About 15 years ago I picked up a crappy looking old Schwinn for $40. I knew it was old but once I had it and checked the serial number on a Schwinn bike site it turned out to be a 1953 Schwinn Panther! It still had the correct carrier out back.

I stripped it to bare metal and repainted it myself using Krylon paints. Even used stencils to recreate the pin striping with my airbrush. I had the fenders replated and got a bunch of repro parts to replace the rusted out ones. I had it for a few years and then someone saw it and named the right price! That bicycle weighted almost 40 lbs. and looked like a motorcycle even having a chromed frame tank .

Hey so be careful though with the badges. I haven't done a resto project in a while, but I always had a hard time getting them to stay on the way they do originally.

Some jerk stole the badges off of my other car's wheels not long ago too.

Are you talking about the picture at the top with me and the car? That's my Dad, it was taken when he gave me the car.

platicjunkie, I don't think I've ever seen a bicycle like that! It's nice to bring things back from the brink of "death" Hubby and myself fixed up my almost 30 year old motorcycle a while back. It's still a trusty, and fun ride!

Got out to my cousins house yesterday to see the baby, and get a little bit more done with my car.

Pulled a few more bits off the front of the car. I'm going to sand blast and re-paint some stuff at home.

Looking at my car this way.......well, I don't like it, lol. But I'm sure it will be worth it in the end.

Motor's out. I'm not sure where my oil leak is, there is oil everywhere. So I think I'm just going to replace most of the gaskets. The motor was rebuilt in winter of 07-08, and not a whole lot of miles were put on it, so no reason to rebuild that, it runs great. It will be cleaned up though.

The gaping hole, lol. Will be cleaned, and repainted, wiring fixed up, etc.

I have a pile of parts in the basement that I've polished, re-painted, but I'm leaving them there until they are almost ready to go back on the car. No sense cluttering up my cousin's garage with a bunch of parts, we need the room to paint the car.

You know . Following this , I wonder , are you going to do a model alongside the real one anytime soon ? That would be cool . It's to bad you can't pack up the Chrome goodies and send them to Chrome - Tech for a re-do !

I bet that would be the biggest model Chrome order they've ever done LOL.LOL. Oh , by the way . Keep on doing the good stuff , you won't be sorry . T.B.

Once you get to the paint and body work look into POR 15 . I don’t know if it’s still around but it’s fantastic at blocking and stopping rust on parts. I used it on my Chevy’s frame on lightly surfaced rust. Paint Over Rust will isolate oxygen from getting to the rust stopping it dead on its track. It comes or came in black, silver and clear and can be topcoated. I used the silver to paint the inside of a 1952 Coca Cola cooler 25 years ago that had surface rust and it still looks brand new.

You know . Following this , I wonder , are you going to do a model alongside the real one anytime soon ? That would be cool . It's to bad you can't pack up the Chrome goodies and send them to Chrome - Tech for a re-do !

I bet that would be the biggest model Chrome order they've ever done LOL.LOL. Oh , by the way . Keep on doing the good stuff , you won't be sorry . T.B.

I built one last Fall. If your like me, you don't frequent the auto section very often.

I have the original fasteners for the badges, and plan on using sealant on them.

plasticjunkie, I have used POR-15 before. I purchase a motorcycle gas tank sealer kit, and used it on my old 89 EX500. I also did my brother in laws ZR-7S gas tank. It worked beautifully. Inside of my tank still looks brand new. I never thought about using it on the car though! I'll look into that!